A Small but Strong Field: Pioneer Women Triathletes in Australia

Erica Bates braved the cold water at Hinze Dam, along with a small handful of women and larger number of men. 

A Small Field

Anecdotal evidence, and race reports and race results from triathlons held in Australia in the 1980s show a marked difference in the number of men and women participating as athletes in the sport at the time.

Only 17 women participated in the 1984 Royal National Park Triathlon, in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, which attracted 320 athletes altogether. Women’s participation rates at the annual event consistently averaged between 5% and 10% even into the 1990s.

At the 1987 City Beach Triathlon in Western Australia, women represented roughly 13% of the field of 300, four times the number of female participants at the 1986 iteration of the event.

The sports governing body for triathlon in Victoria, Triathlon Victoria, reported in 1987 that 82% of respondents were men, 18% women and that this closely mirrored it's membership records.

Information from Billie’s Bushies, Royal National Park Triathlon, race results booklets for every year, 1984-92; Jeremy England, ‘The City Beach Report’, Tri-ing Times, no formal date or volume number [1987]; ‘TAV Questionnaire’, The fourth event, Aug 1987, pp.12-14.